Sunday, March 20, 2005

Wold Newton book contents

I can finally announce the contents for MYTHS FOR THE MODERN AGE: PHILIP JOSÉ FARMER'S WOLD NEWTON UNIVERSE (formerly titled CREATIVE MYTHOGRAPHY) (pre-order here)

Introduction: Myths for the Modern Age
Win Scott Eckert

Wold-Newtonry
Dr. Peter M. Coogan

The Arms of Tarzan
Philip José Farmer

The Secret History of Captain Nemo
Rick Lai

From Pygmalion to Casablanca: The Higgins Genealogy
Mark K. Brown

A Reply To "The Red Herring"
Philip José Farmer

The Daughters of Greystoke
Chuck Loridans

The Green Eyes Have It - Or Are They Blue?
Christopher Paul Carey

The Two Lord Ruftons
Philip José Farmer

Kiss of the Vampire
John A. Small

Name of A Thousand Blue Demons
Cheryl L. Huttner

The Great Korak-Time Discrepancy
Philip José Farmer

Asian Detectives in the Wold Newton Family
Dennis E. Power

This Shadow Hanging Over Me Is No Trick Of The Light
Jess Nevins

The Lord Mountford Mystery
Philip José Farmer

The Magnificent Gordons
Mark K. Brown

The Legacy of the Fox: Zorro in the Wold Newton Universe
Matthew Baugh

From ERB To Ygg
Philip José Farmer

Who's Going to Take Over the World When I'm Gone?
Win Scott Eckert

Jungle Brothers, Or, Secrets Of The Jungle Lords
Dennis E. Power

A Language For Opar
Philip José Farmer

Watching the Detectives, Or, The Sherlock Holmes Family Tree
Brad Mengel

Fu Manchu Vs. Cthulhu
Rick Lai

Jonathan Swift Somers III
Philip José Farmer

John Carter: Torn from Phoenician Dreams
Dennis E. Power and Dr. Peter M. Coogan

D is for Daughter, F is for Father
Mark K. Brown

The Monster on Hold
Philip José Farmer

Travels in Time
Loki Carbis

A Review of Final Menacing Glimpses
Art Bollmann

Here's the knock-out cover by John Picacio:

Thumbnail cover

Big cover

Phil Farmer's Wold Newtonian essays included in MYTHS are hard-to-find, and appeared in various fanzines or other publications over the years. It is certainly a boon to have them collected here in one Wold Newton-oriented volume. Almost every contribution from the "post-Farmerian" writers has been revised -- sometimes significantly -- for this book. These are the official publication versions. All in all, this is going to be a 400-page book.

Now, going over the list of essays, some folks might be asking, "where the heck is the Crossover Chronology, which Win has been saying will be in the Wold Newton book?"

Like I said, the book is already going to be 400 pages, without the Crossover Chronology.

Therefore, MYTHS FOR THE MODERN AGE: PHILIP JOSÉ FARMER'S WOLD NEWTON UNIVERSE will come out in November 2005, as planned, with all the articles listed above included. And a second volume, another 300-400 page tome, THE CROSSOVER CHRONOLOGY: MORE MYTHS FOR THE MODERN AGE (this is a working title; it could change) is slated for publication in Spring 2006.

So, it's back to work for me! Gotta add in some more crossover entries. I am quickly learning that there is no such thing as "done." Not that I'm complaining.

While I'm at it, I may as well plug my short story in the anthology TALES OF THE SHADOWMEN 1: THE MODERN BABYLON. It's an anthology from Jean-Marc Lofficier's Black Coat Press. It features short stories inspired by French pulp fiction, written by several Wold Newton "creative mythographers," including yours truly, Matthew Baugh, Greg Gick, and Rick Lai, as well as much more established science-fiction writers such as Brian Stableford, Jean-Marc & Randy Lofficier, John Peel, Terrance Dicks, Chris Roberson, and Robert Sheckley, among others.

Nor are the stories limited to only French characters... Wold Newton Family members such as Doc Savage, Fu Manchu, Sherlock Holmes, and The Shadow, all make appearances in the anthology (even if some of them appear in disguise), as do perennial French Wold Newton Family members C. Auguste Dupin and Arsène Lupin. Several of the stories refer to or utilize Phil Farmer's Wold Newton Family theories and concepts. For fans of the MONSTAAH corner of the Wold Newton Universe, there are stories featuring Frankenstein's Creature, the Cthulhu Mythos, and Erik (Phantom of the Opera).

My story, "The Vanishing Devil," is a sequel to Guy d'Armen's DOC ARDAN: CITY OF GOLD AND LEPERS.
I don't think it's giving anything away to say that it features Doc Ardan and the nefarious Doctor Natas in a follow-up confrontation... nor that Doc Ardan might just be a certain Savage pulp hero, as Natas might really be a very long-lived Devil Doctor.

TALES OF THE SHADOWMEN is now available...
-direct from the publisher

-from Amazon

-and is listed in the March 2005 Diamond Previews, so you can order it from your local comic shop that way.

1 comment:

Win Scott Eckert said...

Returned from vacation to learn that a second Wold Newton oriented volume featuring the Crossover Chronology is now not-so-sure a thing.

With two years of work revising it from the current web-based version (http://www.pjfarmer.com/woldnewton/Chron.htm),
I guess one could say I'm distressed.

In addition to having ~1200 entries (up from 400 on the web-based version), the revised Chronology has 3 appendices with expanded info on the related chains of television
crossovers, the Alternate Universe crossovers & parodies, and fictional biographies. I've also revised many of the previously existing entries with better citations, and generally made annotations much more scholarly (one hopes). As of right now, the whole document clocks in at almost 182,000 words (405 pages of 10 pt. type in MS Word).

Unfortunately it's too long to fit in the first Wold Newton anthology, and a standalone book featuring just the Chronology doesn't appear to be in the cards right now.

So I'll take a deep breath and hope for the best... With my thanks to my publisher, and Chris C. and Jess N. for their supportive comments.

Guess I'd better get cracking on that story for TALES OF THE SHADOWMEN 2....